Q5:"(Do you have) advice for others trying to become small business owners?"

December 17, 2014 marked my first anniversary as an entrepreneur and college drop-out. I invited friends to ask me about my journey. Here is the fifth of the series of questions and my response:

Q5:"(Do you have) advice for others trying to become small business owners?"

As far as the technical side of starting certain kinds of small businesses goes, I can't help you very much on my own. I myself use a very simple business model, and I am still learning all the time about how I can work it to my advantage. Consequently, my first piece of advice would be to get help. Look around you. Do you know anyone who is running a business similar to the one you have in mind? Go to them right now and ask for a bit of their time. Schedule an appointment with them so you can ask them questions pertaining to their experience and knowledge, and don't forget to write down or record what they say. Be around people who know what they're doing, or who are figuring it out. You don't have to start from scratch. Go and learn from others. You will get untold value out of learning about the mistakes they've made, the struggles they face, and the ins and outs of the kind of businesses they're in.

Attend seminars and workshops. I attended two such events in 2014, and both were worth the time and money I invested in them. I made valuable connections, received exclusive information, was forced to think and produce under pressure, take lots of notes... Don't miss out on opportunities like these. They are invaluable, and they can provide you with the knowledge you need to start and run a small business. Plus, when you get around groups of people who are motivated to follow their dreams, like you are, you start to feel a whole different energy from what you experience anywhere else.

Join a mastermind group. Energy. Information. Motivation. Accountability. Focus. Support. It's all there for you in a mastermind group full of winners. "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with", so choose your mastermind group wisely and let them help you set yourself up for success.

Get into personal development. I would not be writing this blog post right now without the art of personal development. I used to have a rather low opinion of it, thinking it was mostly just rhetorical philosophy. Jim Rohn, Dexter Yager, Zig Ziglar, Les Brown, Norman Vincent Peale, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Earl Nightingale, Matthew Kelley and many, many others soon showed me that I was WRONG. Perhaps I'll write another post about it later. But plug yourself in! Get your hands on all the right books and audios (Ask me for recommendations). I myself subscribe to a bi-weekly education program that sends me four CD's and one new book to read every month. Seriously make time to consume these kinds of materials. It doesn't even matter if you can't put your full attention into them all the time (I, for example, usually listen to audios when I'm cleaning or driving, and I often read when I'm eating a meal). There are so many things to say about personal development, but what I want you to understand for now is that it's what's going to keep you going when things get confusing or rough. Never go a day without improving your mind through business and personal development materials.

Ask yourself, "Why do I want to do this?"Many people who start businesses seem to lose their way. How many businesses have you seen close over the years? It's probably because something broke their focus. You have to have a WHY. What's going to make it worth it for you to get up everyday and work on your business, through good times and bad? To weep over it, stress over it, bleed over it, get frustrated with it, push it, fix it, tweak it, win with it? I, for example, clean houses. I enjoy cleaning houses because I enjoy that sort of physical labor. I enjoy seeing how I can change the appearance of a home on the inside. I like knowing how clean I can make something. But cleaning houses is not something I can do long-term. In fact, I don't plan to be doing it for too much longer. But I started doing it because it was a great way to transition from the life I had (college student, 3 bosses) to the life I wanted (carefree with an awesome residual income). For the sake of my why, I have scrubbed many a toilet. It's all for my WHY.

One of my most recent revelations about business is that in order to be a good business person, you have to be a good consumer. Good business people like to see other business people succeed. I know other business owners, and it's awesome, because whenever I need something, I know who to go to! And they know to come to me when they need something. There's a give and take aspect to it. "The more you give, the more you get!" (Dexter Yager) If you support other people's businesses and open yourself up to being sold to, you might see other people treat you and your business in the same way. This is also a good way to put yourself in your customers' shoes and really find out how you can reach them.

I got the best advice from one of my personal development heroes, Earl Nightingale, over a year ago: "Don't compete: Create!" I heard it on an audio entitled "The Strangest Secret." You should go and listen to it right away; it's on YouTube. I heard Earl say it over and over again until it finally sank in. I live by that quote. Whenever you start to stress or you feel you've hit a dead end, just remember: "Don't compete: Create!"

Practical tips:

• Find a mentor!
• Get educated!
• Mastermind it out!
• Develop yourself!
• Define your purpose!
• Be a consumer!
• Don't compete: Create!